A Sudanese
woman, Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag has been sentenced to death by hanging by a
Sudanese court for apostasy.
The
Sudanese High court made the declaration in Khartoum,the nation capital.
The heavily
pregnant 27 year-old Mariam, whose father is
Muslim but raised orthodox Christian by her mother, was earlier sentenced to
death by hanging on Sunday May 11th but was given till today May 15th to have a
rethink and convert back to Islam before the verdict would be enforced. However
during a court appearance today, Mariam maintained that she's a Christian and
there's no going back.
"We gave you three
days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be
hanged to death." Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa told the woman in court
today, AFP reports Excerpts..
“I am a Christian and I
never committed apostasy,” she said in court.
Defending the judgement
of the Sudanese judge, Ahmed Bilal Osman, Sudan's information Minister,
said such judgement is not only delivered in Sudan but also in other Islamic
countries
"It's not only
Sudan. In Saudi Arabia, in all the Muslim countries, it is not allowed at all
for a Muslim to change his/her religion." he told AFP
The death sentence will reportedly be carried out after
Ibrahim gives birth.